Had a rather unfortunate incident yesterday. I dragged out my beloved Gibson Les Paul for a bit of a shred, has hardly been played in the last year or so, as I've been playing bass in all the bands I've been in lately. I hadn't fired the ol' mesa up for ages either and thought it could do with a good blast. I was busy playing away, decided to fiddle with the settings on my amp, and CRASH, my Gibson ended up on the floor. I stood there in shock and disbelief for a few seconds, wondering how on earth my strap could have come off when I've got ever reliable Schaller Straplocks on there. Turns out my strap had worn and tore right around the big washer on them. Bugger. Busted one of the machine heads, I only replaced them about a year ago, and you have to buy them in a set of 6. There is also a rather large dent and scuff mark on the bottom edge of the body where it landed on top my daughter's ukelele. Let's just say the uke came off second best.

Another battle scar to add to the many more on the Gibby, it's had a hard life, but it's always awful to see her getting hurt.

The good that men do is often buried with their bones, but the evil that men do lives on and on.

Lame! They must've taken a beating to tear a whole big enough for one of those washers to go through!
Perhaps invest in what i saw some punk guitarists and bassists (personally i thought they were rubbish as most punk is) did and just buy a large maybe 3-4cm radius washer and screw it into the strap button hole.

I have got strap locks on a couple of my basses. They came in the case with my American Fender Jazz Deluxe 5 string, so of course I fitted them as it seemed like a recommendation. I have found them to be great to use although I am in the habit of bringing a couple of spanners with me to gigs now as the locknuts seem to slip a little and I often find them loose at the end of a gig. That being said I thrash my bass like the bass singing slut that it is, it gets thrown around, slapped and tapped as we bounce out our favourite renditions

Last week we were quarter way into a gig and the lock on the top horn released and I played most of a song seating the body of the bass on my belt buckle and playing the instrument as I held it (wierd thing to try and describe but basically I held it in my hands and against my body to avoid dropping it). The crowd probably thought it was for effect...lol. Upon investigating I found that the lock had spun around to the negative position and I mustve struck it in such a way that it just released. All I need to do was spin it around and tighten it up HARD. This wouldve have happened if I 'didnt' have them fitted. That being said I'll still use them.

I think you need to check it like you would your seatbelt is locked firmly before a big journey. Especially when each time it is locked in for a gig. We sometimes play 3 hours solid without a break so always do a full instrument check before we launch cos there isnt anytime mid gig to adjust stuff much.

at rehearsal last weekend - guitar player loaded up his Bolin gat and it immediately crashed to the floor - corner headstock took the brunt - no damage (amazingly) - he thought his straplock was locked! (it obviously didnt 'click' in) - major consideration with these things - complacency! - put 'em on and throw em around but if it dont click youll throw your precious to the floor - standard strap pins -your always careful - but with straploks - beware the moon!

BrendonM wrote: ... the locknuts seem to slip a little and I often find them loose at the end of a gig.

A good tip I picked up a while back: Try some Loctite 243 thread locker on the nuts. Just a couple of drops. A good auto parts store should have it - this one locks the nut firmly but not permanently, so you can still loosen them when needed. I use it on all my Schaller straplocks (Rick, P, J and a couple of gt*rs). Other than that, yeah, check 'em before every gig and keep a spanner in the gig bag toolkit!

Oh, hi, by the way. New 'round here. Looks like a friendly neighbourhood!

I go against the grain here - I don't like strap-locks at all. I had an Ibanez bass many years ago fitted with them and had nothing but a hassle.

For straps, I buy top quality ones with very thick leather ends and with small holes in the leather. I never take my straps off the pegs and just carefully fold the straps around the bass when putting into its hard case. Not one dropped bass because of that.

I've always used Dunlop straplocks. Never, ever had a drop. I usually use the flushmount ones so there's zero sideways pressure on the screw, although my latest Fender Jazz just has the conventional Dunlops on.